


The Silence is Deafening

by gay_jeans



Series: It'll Take You To the Other Side (Barlyle) [1]
Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: AU, AU - imagine your otp, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with somewhat of a happy ending, Barnum x Carlyle, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Imagine your OTP, M/M, Minor Character Death, Moonlight, P. T. Barnum x Phillip Carlyle, P. T. is sad and Phillip comforts him, Slow Burn, Sunsets, barlyle - Freeform, beautiful sunsets, bisexual circus dads, soulmate au kind of, they both comfort each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 16:19:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13461927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_jeans/pseuds/gay_jeans
Summary: Based on an "Imagine your OTP" prompt:Phillip doesn't know why Phineas is always stealing flowers from his garden. He decides to find out why.





	The Silence is Deafening

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my. This is my first ship fic. Aaaand my first gay fic. We'll see how it goes.

Phineas hated going on walks. They were always too long and too lonely, leaving him to suffer in the deafening silence. Then he'd start to subconsciously hope for some company, only to remind himself that if he had the company he wouldn't be making this trip in the first place. But the destination gave him a reason to push through.

The November chill of Manhattan prompted him to pull his coat tighter around his figure. Beneath the aged, worn cloth, goosebumps formed on clammy skin. His breath was visible against the pale sky. It must have been sometime between three and four, later in the afternoon.

Soon enough, a house came into view. It was beautiful in its simplicity and coziness, with a gorgeous garden of various flowers and bushes adorning the yard. He spotted the carnations and a small, sad smile curved the corners of his lips. They were purple. Her favorite.

Glancing around, he spotted no one, not even parted curtains, and stepped through the gate. He removed his jackknife from his coat pocket and carefully severed the stems of a few different colors of the carnations. That was when he heard a door creak open. His eyes widened and knife dropped in surprise.

"Hello, there, may I ask what you're doing to my garden?" asked a low voice that somehow reminded him of honey-drizzled tea sliding down the back of an aching throat. Wait, how is that even relevant to a voice? He still thought it fit well. The man it belonged to appeared to be somewhat younger than Phineas, maybe in his early thirties. He looked sharp and handsome, even though according to his plain shirt and slacks he seemed to have been caught in the middle of some casual activity. Cooking, perhaps? Writing, or maybe playing an instrument? Phineas suddenly felt the urge to know.

"Oh, er, it's not what it looks like, I can assure you—“

"Stealing flowers from my garden?" The man crossed his arms, one eyebrow raised. "I've seen you here before, you know, out the window." 

Phineas felt a blush creeping into his cheeks. He cast his eyes down. His voice was quiet and embarrassed. "My apologies, sir, it was never my intent to—"

The man waved his hand and opened the door before reaching inside, pulling a coat off the hanger and walking down the porch steps. "You can take the flowers. I have enough as it is." He pulled his coat on. "But you must let me meet her."

Phineas froze. "What?" 

"Well, I have to see if she's worth you cutting my carnations away from my collection,” he said, as if it were obvious. He stuck his hand out. “Phillip Carlyle.”

Phineas took it tentatively, but then gave him a firm shake. Wait, was that too hard? No, no, that was too fragile.... 

“Phineas Taylor Barnum. You don’t have to join. Here, I’ll pay for the flowers, and I’ll be on my way.”

Phillip grinned, his blue eyes brightening. “Nonsense! Come, tell me about her. She’s beautiful, yeah?” he prompted, guiding Phineas through the gate with a hand on his arm. 

Any coherent though Phineas should’ve had seemed to dissipate as if on cue. But then her image came to mind. 

“Yes...the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, with a mind as sharp as steel and heart as gold as the sun.” 

Phillip smiled warmly. They continued down the sidewalk. “What’s her name?”

He bit his lip and clenched his fist, digging nails into his palms. He pushed the feeling down and focused on how she made him feel. “Charity,” he hummed serenely. 

“What a beautiful name.”

Together, the walk didn’t seem so long and lonely and deafening. Phillip continued to ask questions about this mysterious Charity, while Phineas answered the best he could. For a while, Phineas even forgot where he was walking to in the first place. That is, until the path came up. 

“This is it,” he sighed. 

Phillip furrowed his brow in confusion, looking past the black gate. “A cemetery? What...oh,” he realized quietly. He dipped his head and studied his shoes. “Phineas, I...erm...I owe you an apology. It was not my place to intrude, I’ll leave you be, now."

Phillip began to walk back the way they came, when Phineas put a hand on his shoulder. “Please,” he asked, “stay. I’d actually rather have a friend.”

Phillip met his eyes and nodded solemnly.

Phineas lightly squeezed his shoulder in thanks, then led him through the gate to Charity Barnum’s grave. He laid the carnations across the gravestone where a dead bouquet of others lay. He took the old ones in his hands, sitting on the grass, and fiddled with the stiff remains of the petals. Phillip joined him on the ground. 

It was minutes before either of them said anything, but when Phillip spoke, it was quiet and timid. “May I ask what happened?”

Phineas didn’t look away from the flowers. Petal crumbs littered his crossed legs. “She got sick a few years ago. She’s a fighter, you know, she had a lot to live for. It took a long time, but we made our peace with it, and she could finally let go.”

He was glad he stopped talking when he did. Otherwise, his voice would’ve broken, his hands would start to tremble, and that would be too embarrassing in front of Phillip. 

But why? He was a stranger. 

“You have children?” He asked, noticing that on the gravestone, it read “mother.”

Phineas nodded and started to smile. “Caroline and Helen, the two joys of my life. I can’t tell you how bad of a place I’d be if it weren’t for them. I might not even be here. They had it rough, too, though. They’re staying at Charity’s parents’ place for the weekend.”

They entered a silence once again, and Phineas began to frown, but he then realized that the silence didn’t seem so excruciating. He glanced at Phillip, who was fiddling with his shoe laces. 

“Thank you for coming with me.”

Phillip’s head snapped up in surprise. “But I...I must’ve caused you so much pain by making you talk about...” he trailed off, voice wobbling. The tone sent a pain through Phineas’s heart. 

“Pain is easier to bear when there’s somebody to help keep you standing,” he replied, holding Phillip’s gaze for a moment. 

He held the gaze and nodded in reverence. “Thank you for bringing me here.“

Phineas smiled, and for the first time in a while, it was a real, soft smile. “Join me for a walk?” Getting to his feet, he stretched a hand out. 

Phillip accepted his hand. “Glad to.” 

For some time, both of them lost track, they just walked in silence, being in each other’s company. 

Phillip stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I lost my brother to pneumonia about a decade ago,” he offered. Something in his voice suggested it was a subject he approached cautiously. “I know our relationship couldn’t have been closer than that of a husband and wife, but...I get it. Losing someone you love to something you can’t stop. I truly am sorry, Phineas.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” he shook his head dejectedly. “I was an only child, I couldn’t understand your grief.”

“That could be a good thing,” Phillip smiled weakly. 

They continued to walk until the sun began to set over the horizon. The sky had turned from a pale shade of grey-blue to orange bursting over the bluffs and hills, illuminating clouds. 

“Oh!” Phillip exclaimed. “The sky’s so beautiful now, but you know where it would be even more beautiful?”

Phineas felt his heart skip a beat. “Where?” His pearly whites showed through his smile. He couldn’t help it. 

“Come on, I’ll show you.” Phillip took his hand and half walked, half jogged him along to an isolated trail in the forest set at a steep incline. Phillip picked up his pace. “Don’t want to miss it!”

He watched in admiration as Phillip’s feet bounded gracefully, skipping over rocks and dodging holes like he’d done it a million times before. Meanwhile, it was all he could do to not trip over his own two feet. A patch of sky surrounded by trees stood at the end of their path, beckoning them on further. 

Finally, Phillip slowed down and abruptly let go of Phineas’s hand, as if just realizing he was still holding it. “This is it.”

Words wouldn’t come to Phineas’s mouth. Not even in his mind. All he could process was the color. They stood on a low bluff overlooking hills and valleys and a pond. Previously, all he could see was the awakening of the sunset, blocked by trees and bluffs. But as he stood above all else, a rainbow of bright, vibrant colors had painted across the sky, the blinding sun in the middle of it all. 

“Wow,” he breathed. “I....” 

He looked at Phillip. He was smiling in content. He lowered himself to the ground, and Phillip followed suit. 

“I used to come here all the time with my brother,” he explained. “Discovered it around our early teenage years. We were the only ones that knew about it.” 

Phineas found himself staring at him, lips slightly agape. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”

His smile faded as he clenched his jaw, tears clearly shining through his eyes. He cast his stare back onto the sunset. “Pain’s easier to bear when there’s someone to help keep you standing.” He struggled to keep his voice, thick with emotion, steady.

Phineas laced his fingers through Phillip’s. “We’re both here to keep each other standing.”

Phillip met his eyes as a tear dropped from his own. He squeezed Phineas’s hand. 

Then they continued to watch the sunset evolve into moonlight, enjoying the comforting silence.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at midnight or something when I couldn't sleep so it's probably trash but there ya go


End file.
